In various sporting events, as well as in other endeavors, it is commonplace for the participants to wear specialized gloves on their hands. Such gloves are worn for a number of reasons. In sports, such as hockey and football, the gloves are worn for the purpose of protecting the wearer from injury as well as to facilitate athletic performance. For example, a football player might wear gloves on both hands in order to facilitate catching and handling the football, as well as to offer some protection. In other sports, such as hockey, the gloves may be heavily padded to offer protection from injury.
In other endeavors, such as golf and baseball, the participant may wear gloves on one or both hands in order to facilitate performance; to enable the wearer to effectively grip the shaft of a golf club or the handle of a baseball or softball bat. These gloves are normally made at least partially of a soft leather which fits the hand in a closely-conforming relationship so as to facilitate the wearer's gripping of the bat handle or golf shaft, as the case may be. In baseball and softball, a player's glove offers a "platform" for protective means which may be worn on one or both hands to protect the batsman against injury or reinjury to the hand. The back of the hand facing the pitcher (the left hand in the case of a right-handed batter) is particularly vulnerable to injury. Bruises and fractures of the hand, due to the hand being hit by a pitched ball, can be sustained on the metacarpal portion of the hand, generally defined as the back of the hand ranging from the knuckles (metacarpophalangeal joints) down to the wrist joint.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,975 to Elliott et al discloses a protective system for athletes, such as baseball players, in which a pair of protective plates are releasibly attached to the back side of a batting glove. The upper plate is segmented along one end to facilitate protection of the knuckles and fingers, and the lower plate is of a generally rectilinear or rectangular shape. The protective plates are releasibly secured to the back of the glove by suitable means such as thistle cloth material, commonly referred to as Velcro, by fitting the plates into protective pockets, or through the use of mating, snap fasteners. The lower protective plate, which in transverse end view is of a convex arch shape, incorporates a layer of shock-absorbing cushioning such as is provided by a resilient, polyurethane foam secured to the underside of the plate by an adhesive. The Velcro fastening material used to secure the plate to the glove is, in turn, secured to the underside of the cushioning material by a second layer of adhesive material. The plate is curved, as noted above, so that it projects around the edge of the hand on which the glove is fitted.